The developer of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center yesterday said he’s “hopeful” the Islanders will move to the new arena when the hockey team’s lease at Nassau Coliseum expires in 2015.

“I think it is highly likely there won’t be a new arena built in Nassau County with the current state of the economy, so I think there is certainly a chance,” developer Bruce Ratner told Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.”

Although Ratner declined to reveal whether he has had talks with the NHL team, his comments were the strongest he has made yet about pro hockey joining the NBA’s Nets at the Barclays Center, which opens in September 2012.

As The Post previously reported, the Barclays Center has emerged as a possible new home for the Islanders — especially after Nassau voters shot down a referendum to build a new arena for the team in August.

For years, Barclays Center officials claimed the arena would be too small for pro hockey. But two months ago they confirmed the arena would actually be fitted with an NHL-regulation rink.

The arena holds 18,000 seats for basketball, and sources said it could hold about 14,500 seats for hockey. The NHL says it doesn’t have a minimum-seating requirement for arenas its teams play in.

The smallest seating capacity for an NHL team is 15,015 at the MTS Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Beginning this fall, it will be home to the Winnipeg Jets.

Nassau Coliseum seats 16,234, but the Islanders averaged 11,059 fans per game last season — the worst in the NHL.